There has been much dialogue around how the COVID-19 pandemic – which is likely to cast the dark shadow of recession on world economy – will change work practices and the nature of jobs in India.
As the cogs of the economy stand immobile due to the lockdown, experts claim that obvious short-term implications such as job losses, disruption of supply chains, and losses incurred by the travel and tourism industry are bound to happen.
However, if this crisis is managed well by India, there is a chance of opening up opportunities to revamp the economy, reshape workspaces and their norms in the longer run. It will, however, require major restructuring of the governmental framework and the education sector.
In a recent webinar, hosted by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, a panel comprising India Director of the World Bank, Junaid Ahmed, NASSCOM president Debjani Ghosh, Hero Enterprises Chairman Sunil Munjal, Teamlease chairman Manish Sabharwal and Urban Company co-founder Abhiraj Bhal discussed the future of the way employees work in India.
The panelists predicted a definite growth of the gig economy, disagreed on the fate of the work-from-home policy in the future, discussed the need for social security for all, and the need for employees to test the resilience of employers.
"If we don't use this opportunity to drive radical changes, it is our loss," said Debjani Ghosh. "I think this is the beginning of the blended model. We talk about omnichannel, and now we are going to see that at our workplaces. We are going to see the offline and online coming together,” she said.
Omnichannel is a strategy used by oraganisations to bring together their communication channels and resources in order to enhance the user experience.
Ghosh pointed out that this pandemic is going to change workspaces forever, and is likely to open up many opportunities for women. "The one thing I am tremendously excited about is that it will bring the much-needed balance in the workplace, in terms of getting the other gender more involved. We have talked a lot about how women cannot go to work because they have to stay at home. But the 'work-from-home' policy will now allow women who want to work to get back to it," she said.
While there are several benefits of work-from-home, many are sceptical about its long-term advantages and suspect that it is a momentary trend that may not continue, at least not on a full scale. Work-from-home has provided continuity but whether it will provide productivity in the future remains to be seen, Manish Sabharwal argued.
"It has exposed a class system for sure. About 70 per cent of my graduate employees can work from home, but only 10 per cent of my non-graduate (employees) can do that," he said. However, he maintained that what would really change in a post-pandemic economy is how organisations structure their people supply chain.
Sabharwal also pointed out that after the pandemic one thing that will become a yardstick for evaluating companies is their resilience.
"Employees will start evaluating employers for resilience as well as performance. In the last few years, we had forgotten that you have to survive in order to succeed... So, resilience will become an evaluation for employers as much as performance."
Abhiraj Bhal said, "The world over, many people will get unemployed, and many of them will look for informal work. They will look towards the gig economy to sustain themselves over the next couple of years and eventually that will become the new normal."
However, that gives rise to another question: how are gig workers likely to sustain themselves with no long-term stable jobs, nor social security?
Addressing this question, Bhal said, "At some stage, both the government and the private sector will have to think about gig workers and find a way to let them flourish independently, but they will also have to give them some form of social security. For instance, they can allow them to contribute to the National Pension Scheme."
Junaid Ahmed, taking the idea forward, said that the time for India to completely revolutionise its social protection system had come.
"We have the PDS, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana — these have to be brought together on one platform that becomes the social protection system of the future.”
Ahmed made a case for such a system that would provide protection to informal workers and portability to migrant workers. “It is time India shifted scale on social protection. it is already capable of doing it." he added. He also said that a complete revamp of the governmental structure is required for India to evolve post-pandemic.
"I am not worried about the private sector. I'm not worried about technology changes and innovation, I think there is huge power in the private sector to innovate. But the key question we are facing is: does this shock (of the pandemic) tell the state that it has to change in the way it governs?" Ahmad asked.
“Is the state's social protection system going to change? Is the state federalism going to change? Is the state going to change in terms of what continues to be the public sector?" questioned Ahmad. He said that these crucial questions will determine how developing countries fare in a post-pandemic world.
Sunil Munjal said that a new era of globalisation can dawn on us post-pandemic. "If India manages this crisis well, there is a good chance of attracting more capital, talents, ideas and technology into the country, especially in the manufacturing sector," he said.
"India can take on a bigger role not just for indigenisation, but also for becoming a bigger global power in the manufacturing field. A lot bigger than it had been over the last 30 years. It is a unique opportunity, and we need to repurpose ourselves to some extent, to be able to do that." he added.
As far as skill development of people for the post-pandemic world is concerned, Ghosh said that India is already a little ahead since it started the Future Skills Initiative about a year ago. Through this initiative, the change required in the basic curriculum, skills required by students, and a way of learning that is more conducive to the changing times is being identified.
"We got tremendous support from the government.. we have not only built this platform but we also had over 30 to 50 members of the industry involved in it. We are preparing to roll it out," said Ghosh. She added that the platform is getting a lot of traction from universities, as they want to take these curricula and training models to their students, especially after the crisis.
"Blended learning has taken on a completely new meaning. We are seeing a lot more focus on online learning, not just on the school level, but also at a higher level, where it is very much needed," she said.
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